Dr Ling wants PKFZ Cabinet papers declassified
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, The Malaysian Insider
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 3 — Lawyers for Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik today asked for Cabinet documents on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal to be declassified and the trial to be moved to Kuala Lumpur from here.
The former transport minister’s lawyers said this today when the Putrajaya Sessions Court here moved mention of the case to November 30.
Dr Ling was charged on July 30 with concealing the fact that the finance ministry’s valuation and property service department had valued the land for the troubled port project at RM25 psf for a repayment period of 10 years, or RM25.82 psf for a repayment period of 15 years, including interest chargeable for the repayment period.
He was charged at the Putrajaya Sessions Court under Section 418 of the Penal Code with “cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may be caused to a person whose interest the offender is bound to protect”.
The alleged offence was committed at the fourth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between September 25 and November 6, 2002. The charge carries a maximum seven years’ jail or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Dr Ling also faces an alternative charge, under Section 417, of cheating the government by misleading the Cabinet on the land acquisition for the same project, at the same place and time.
